Creating narratives through her watercolor compositions, Colleen Reynolds hopes viewers will relate to her pictorial stories through their own experiences. The Capital City Arts Initiative’s exhibition, Watercolor Stories, continues through June 29 in the Community Center’s Crowell board room, 851 E. William St. “I feel the best paintings go beyond mere rendering and provide a narrative of the subject’s place in the bigger picture of life. Whether depicting figures, landscapes, birds, or flowers, each composition has a story to tell and that ultimately the compilation of the works on exhibit become a self-portrait of the artist holding the brush,” said Reynolds. Reynolds joined the U.S. Navy shortly after graduating from high school in Las Vegas. While in the service, Reynolds lived and worked in Florida, California, Norway, Scotland, Washington, D.C., Idaho, and Virginia. She had the opportunity to study art at the University of Idaho while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She was able to take private oil painting classes at the Old Torpedo Factory near Washington, D.C., and she completed a master’s degree in education while stationed in Chesapeake, Virginia. Reynolds sailed aboard two aircraft carriers on deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. During her deployments, she was the resident “in demand” artist for portraits and caricatures of her shipmates and their families. Reynolds fell in love with watercolor while she earned a BFA degree at the University of Utah in 2007. After her early childhood in rural Nevada and Las Vegas, she returned to the state with her family in 2017 and settled in Carson City. She currently teaches watercolor with Western Nevada College in Carson City and Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno. Her art has been published in several “Best of Watercolor” annual collections and cartoon books, and has been juried into exclusive national and international watercolor exhibits. Reynolds paints and teaches watercolor workshops at her Carson City business, CRM Endeavors Exploring Watercolor; www.colleenreynolds.com. CCAI is an artist-centered not-for-profit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, illustrated talks, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities. The initiative is funded by the Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Carson City Cultural Commission, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, U.S. Bank Foundation, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members. For information, visit CCAI’s website at www.ccainv.org.
